The Hills

There was a TV show called The Hills. My daughter watched it all the time. It was a "reality" show about some very wealthy people who were always complaining about the fact that their neighbors Mercedes was bigger than theirs - or something really dumb like that. As if the very wealthy really need to worry about much... but I digress...

My post today is about running hills! Do I love them or hate them? Do I look forward to running them? Should I even care? Well, the marathon I am training for has plenty of them. I do love running down hills - who doesn't - they are easy and I can get a little more speed, plus catch my breath because I'm not working as hard. Down hill is my favorite! Its the UP hill that is my nemesis. (I live on top of a hill - a very large hill. Every where I choose to run involves some sort of down hill and then back up on the return trip.)

This mornings run was a short 4 miler and I was pretty confident that I wouldn't have any trouble. The 4 milers are now common place and I can do them pretty easily - I know, crazy, huh? But that wasn't the case as soon as I started into my run. There was pain. Normally the pain goes away after about a mile, so I kept on running, and hoping. After two miles the pain was not gone. The pain starts in my shins and works its way up to my knees and then sometimes even my hips. I kept running. Well into about mile three I couldn't stand it any more so I slowed to a walk. The pain didn't go away even at that pace. Then I turned the corner... There it was, the bottom of the hill. I had to go up that hill to get home. I started to run up it. The pain sort of went away as I leaned into the hill and put my head down. One foot in front of the other, slow steps, up, up, up. About half way up the hill kind of levels off for about 100 feet or so. I kept running. Then the next part of the hill - this time much steeper and longer. Again I leaned into the hill and put my head down. I wasn't quite sure how much farther I had so I looked up and saw that I had almost crested it. I was almost there - at the top! (Even on good days I have never run the entire length of the hill with out stopping!) After I crested the hill I just kept running. By now, I was only about 1/2 mile away from home, so I just kept running. It's these small little victories that give me strength to keep going. I CONQUERED THE HILL!

By the time I walked in my front door, I could barely stand. The pain was unbearable. I downed a few 100 milligrams of ibuprofen and lay on the floor for few minutes. After my shower, the pain was nearly gone and I felt human again. Even now the pain is just a memory, but the fact that I ran the entire hill is just that - FACT! And believe it or not, I didn't hate it. in fact, that remains the best part of this mornings run. I hope some day - soon - to be able to say that I LOVE running up hills.